Laos – Ullan Adventures

Interview with Beckett – A Year of Travel Wrap-up

Kirsten / June 5, 2014

Interview with Beckett at the end of our year of traveling (age 7)

Q: Have you enjoyed traveling this past year?
Beckett: Yes. I’ve enjoyed traveling because you can go a lot of fun places like Turkey and Thailand.

Q: What do you like most about traveling?
Beckett: That I get to do fun activities like paragliding and ziplining and stuff. And elephant camp.

Riding an elephant in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Q: What did you like least about traveling?
Beckett: I have to pack and unpack my bag. And as soon as I find somewhere fun, I have to leave.

Q: What toys/games are you happy you brought with you?
Beckett: Stuffies! Stuffies is like everything I brought.

Q: What were your favorite places? Why?
Beckett: Thailand because we went to an elephant camp and took care of elephants for a day and cleaned it, checked the poo, ate lunch then bathed it. And I also went ziplining through the trees in a jungle. We saw gibbons through the trees.

Turkey because I went paragliding and they have delicious pancakes – yum yum. The paragliding was so fun – you were 6000’ up – but the drive was really scary.

Santorini because we went ATV-ing. And Morocco because we went ATV-ing out in the desert and because of the cobra show.

Watching a cobra in the Medina in Marrakech, Morocco

Q: What were your least favorite places? Why?
Beckett: Istanbul. There was just nothing really good to see there. And Spain, there was just nothing really good to do around.

Q: What were your favorite experiences?
Beckett: Ziplining. Taking care of elephants for a day. Paragliding! ATV-ing. Going up the Eiffel Tower. Walking on the Great Wall of China and taking the toboggan down. Ice cream show in Turkey. Yee Peng. Tigers. Turkish Bath.

Beck and Mara running on the Great Wall of China

Q: What were your least favorite experiences?
Beckett: My least favorite experience was trying new foods. The ferry from Rhodes to Turkey – I hate that. I did not like Pamukkale. The scary drive up the mountain to paraglide. Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace in Istanbul were boring.

Q: Did you enjoy being homeschooled?
Beckett: Uhhhhh… don’t know. It was ok.

Q: What was your favorite homeschool subject?
Beckett: Science

Q: What was your least favorite homeschool subject?
Beckett: Writing

Q: What have you learned from your travels so far?
Beckett: That traveling can be fun but also not fun. How bad the ferry from Rhodes to Turkey was. How boring plane rides are. How fun ATVs are. How fun paragliding and taking care of an elephant is. How fun ziplining is.

Q: What were some of your favorite foods?
Beckett: Turkish pancakes. Crepes. Mac n’ cheese from Hotel Letoon in Fethiye, Turkey. Baguettes. Food-go-round. MK in Thailand.

Eating Gözleme (Turkish pancakes) in Calis Beach, Turkey

Q: What do you miss the most about the USA?
Beckett: Having a house and not having to pack your bags every once in a while. And unpack them. Finding friends and not having to leave them.

Q: What will you miss the most about traveling?
Beckett: Going fun places and doing once in a lifetime experiences.

Q: Where do you want to travel next?
Beckett: Go on African safari.

007 — Me-O Veterinary Clinic in Kidzania in Bangkok

118 — Making curry paste at Sammy’s Cooking School in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Washing MaeBonChon in the river at Patara Elephant Camp in Thailand

416 — Feeding a baby tiger at the Night Safari in Chiang Mai, Thailand

FC Barcelona futbol game at Camp Nou in Barcelona, Spain

Beckett and his magic genie lamp in Marrakech, Morocco

467 — Loi Krathong festival in Chiang Mai, Thailand

228 — Crossing the Mekong River in a longtail boat from Thailand to Laos

063 — Going Viking at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway

Fresh squeezed OJ from #63 in Marrakech, Morocco — Fresh squeezed OJ from stall #63 in Marrakech, Morocco

Feeding pigeons at Tha Pae Gate in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Tree "snow" in Paris — Tree “snow” in Paris

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Interview with Mara – A Year of Travel Wrap-up

Kirsten / June 5, 2014

Interview with Mara at the end of our year of traveling (age 9)

116 — MaeKwan at Patara Elephant Camp in Thailand

Q: Have you enjoyed traveling this past year?
Mara: Well… it’s fun at times. But sometimes I miss just having a house. But it’s great – I love traveling the world and it’s amazing!

Q: What do you like most about traveling?
Mara: Going new places and experiencing new cultures. And I love to try the different foods. And the different treats are always fun.

Q: What did you like least about traveling?
Mara: I don’t get to have much stuff and it’s kind of hard to make friends when you know you’re going to be leaving soon. Sometimes I just miss having friends and having a real house and being able to decorate it.

Q: What toys/games are you happy you brought with you?
Mara: Well, I’m happy I brought my stuffed animals. Or some of my stuffed animals. And I’m happy I brought my Barbies. That’s pretty much all I brought.

Q: What were your favorite places? Why?
Mara: I loved Thailand because there were so many adventures and there are lots of crazy markets. I loved Paris because I wanted to go there all my life and I SO LOVED going up the Eiffel Tower. And I loved Hong Kong because there was a restaurant we called “Noodle Girl” and it was soooo yum! Santorini was AM-AZ-ING!

Me in front of the Eiffel Tower for the first time!

Q: What were your least favorite places? Why?
Mara: Well, that’s kind of hard but Spain was the worst place we went. But it was still pretty darn good. And in Istanbul, all the restaurants served Turkish food which got boring. Plus the Grand Bazaar was just ok. There are so many stray cats and dogs which got scary.

Q: What were your favorite experiences?
Mara: I loved the elephant camp in Thailand. It was UNBELIEVABLY cool! And I also loved the crazy markets. I liked the Noodle Girl restaurant in Hong Kong – it makes me so hungry for grilled steak. Yee Peng was amazing! Great Wall of China! Marrakech ATVs were awesome! Seeing my family paraglide was neat. The Eiffel Tower in Paris, France was amazing! It was so cool. And there were lights on it that blinked and made it looked like it sparkled.

All smiles while warming up after the Forbidden City

Q: What were your least favorite experiences?
Mara: Pamukkale (in Turkey) was ok. And Tiger Kingdom was ok. I really disliked the Louvre, Notre Dame, and La Sagrada Familia. The Alcazar (in Seville, Spain) was bor-ing. The Parthenon was boring. I disliked the ferry from Rhodes to Turkey because the sea was so rocky and wavy and over half the people threw up. Climbing up the Kotor wall was just so long and boring.

Q: Did you enjoy being homeschooled?
Mara: Yes because less school hours. And I don’t have to wake up early, early, early. I have the nicest teacher in the world. I also liked the way she taught multiplication and division.

Q: What was your favorite homeschool subject?
Mara: I don’t have one. I do like multiplication.

Q: What was your least favorite homeschool subject?
Mara: My least favorite was spelling.

Learning about Ancient Greece and hosting our own Olympics

Q: What have you learned from your travels so far?
Mara: A lot about how boring planes are. And how rocky and wavy ferries can be. And how annoying it is to wake up early. I also learned a lot about geography. I also learned how to negotiate. And how fun tuk tuks are. And I learned how annoying it is to have everything you own fit into a suitcase. And that elephants are fun and amazing creatures.

Q: What were some of your favorite foods?
Mara: Pizza in Fethiye, Turkey at Nil Bar. Steak at “Noodle Girl” in the Hong Kong airport. And Nic’s in Chiang Mai, Thailand had great meatballs and pizza. The baguettes we had in Spain were AMAZING! Mint tea in Marrakech. Mmm mmm. The crepes and macarons in Paris – yum! The gyros in Santorini and the olives in Athens were good. I also liked sushi and coconut milk straight from the coconut in Thailand.

I did NOT like the orange hot dog under the Eiffel Tower. Blahhhh.

Q: What do you miss the most about the USA?
Mara: I miss being able to talk to kids in English. And I miss English TV. I miss going to swim team. Girl Scouts! Toy stores!

Q: What will you miss the most about traveling?
Mara: I’m going to miss the food and the cultures and going new places.

Q: Where do you want to travel next?
Mara: Egypt to see the Pyramids. And Russia – I like snow.

139 — Cooking Thai food at Sammy’s Cooking School in Chiang Mai, Thailand

454 — Loi Krathong festival in Chiang Mai, Thailand

224 — Longtail boat trip on the Mekong from Thailand to Laos

Riding a bull at a carnival in La Herradura, Spain

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Longtail Boats on the Mekong + Snake Whiskey = Fun in Don Sao Island, Laos

Kirsten / August 11, 2013

As soon as we decided to go to Tachileik, Myanmar for our first border run, my maximizer tendencies kicked in and I started checking to see if there was any way to go to Laos when we would be so, so close. The answer was Yes!

So after our border run to Myanmar and getting our fresh Thailand stamps good for another 60 days, we headed about 30 min southeast to an area known as the Golden Triangle. From here, we were able to hire a longtail boat to take us about 10 minutes over to an island that belongs to Laos called Don Sao. It also meant a ride on the mighty Mekong river, which I thought was so cool.

Normally when you enter Laos, you need to get a visa and pay a fee, but this island had different rules and we only had to pay about $1-2 each for a day permit to explore the island. The island technically is part of Laos, so a trip over meant another check in my countries visited count! However, you just get a little slip of paper and no stamps in your passport, so it’s not an official exit from and re-entry into Thailand and didn’t muck up our Thailand visas.

Finding a longtail boat captain was easy – we wandered from our hotel down to the main… well, its not even a town… the main strip of carts and found someone with a stack of life vests. From there, it was a simple negotiation of price and off we went.

The ride over to the island took about 10 minutes and we were booking it across. We opted not to do the hour long tour of the river because both kids tend to get really sea sick and are a bit skittish about being on boats because of some previous bad incidents. However, the kids LOVED this boat trip. I mean, LOVED IT!

Once we arrived on the island, we paid our fee, took our requisite pictures by the Laos sign then shopped in the little market there.

First stop in the market was at the whiskey stands to see their signature whiskey – Cobra whiskey. We were offered a sample but both turned it down. If I liked whiskey, I probably would’ve manned up and tried some, but seeing as I don’t do whiskey, and I REALLY don’t do snakes, I wanted to ingest no part of that. There was also some scorpion whiskey if that strikes your fancy or some made with your more run of the mill snakes. And some wussy type of whiskey that appeared to have ginseng and chilies.

After that, we wandered the little market and did some light shopping – wooden whistles for the kids and a Laos shot glass for my collection.

I’d heard that the local beer, BeerLao, was actually quite tasty, so being the beer connoisseur that I am, I had to try one. Verdict, pretty yummy.

We also discovered this cool lizard:

After about an hour, we were done shopping so we headed on back to Thailand. I have no idea how our boat driver navigated all the crap that was floating in the river at such a speed, but we dodged everything and made it back to Thailand in a good 10-15 minutes.

Myanmar in the distance on the left, Lao on the right — Myanmar in the distance

Steps to the "dock" — Steps to the “dock”

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Visiting the Golden Triangle (Border of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar)

Kirsten / August 11, 2013

Myanmar on the left, Laos on the right and the Suak River joining the Mekong River

After our border run to activate our 2nd visa for Thailand, we drove about 30 minutes southeast to an area known as the “Golden Triangle”. Here the Ruak River meets the Mekong River which form the borders between Myanmar, Laos and Thailand.

Back in the day, this area was the world’s largest opium producer and now there are 2 museums dedicated to the history of the region as a major opium growing area. We opted not to go to either museum (our schedules didn’t permit and I also didn’t feel like explaining the entire thing to the kids just yet).

Now, the area seems to be used for tourist purposes and is a launching point for a boat trip up the Mekong River and trips over to Don Sao, Laos.

There really isn’t too much to the area. There is a small strip of stands, a huge, golden Buddha, and not much else. Frankly if it wasn’t for being able to get on the mighty Mekong river and hop over to Don Sao island, the trip wouldn’t have been worth it. But going to Laos and riding on the river was such a highlight of our time in Thailand, that I would do it again in a heartbeat.

We spent the night at the Imperial Golden Triangle Resort, ate breakfast at the resort the next day and headed on the 5 hour drive back to Chiang Mai.

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Our First Border Run to Myanmar

Kirsten / August 10, 2013

This article summarizes our border run, but we also have posts and more pictures for the following 4 stops we made on the trip.

We came to Thailand with a Triple Entry visa which we got from Thailand’s Portland Embassy in the USA. If we waited til we arrived in Thailand, we would’ve been allowed 30 days in Thailand and then would’ve had to leave the country every 30 days. With a visa, we were granted 60 days per visit.

Our first 60 days was up on August 11, so we knew we needed to leave Thailand on or before that date. All you have to do to leave Thailand is cross into a neighboring country and you can immediately return and go through Thailand immigration.

The border run to Tachileik, Myanmar is a common one used by expats in Chiang Mai so we decided to do our first border run there. Many expats do it as a day trip using one of the bus services but we opted to do it ourselves over 3 days. First, we had a car, and Chuck is king of the road trip, so why not? Two, the kids were going to be a disaster sitting in a bus for 10 hours (5 hours there and 5 hours back) careening over mountain roads. And three, it let us craft our own trip stopping at lots of places along the way. So Project Border Run to Myanmar was launched and on Saturday, August 10, off we went!

We started by driving from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai which is about a 2.5-3 hours journey. We stopped for lunch at a mall in Chiang Rai then headed to The White Temple (Wat Rong Khun). After a few hours exploring the temple, we checked into our hotel, the Le Meridien Chiang Rai which we all loved. The room was huge, had 2 large queen beds (that were blissfully comfortable) and meant all 4 of us could stay in 1 room which is not easy to find in Asia. It was also free thanks to our Starwood points!

The room had robes and slippers and the best balcony so the kids spent the visit wrapped in robes and happy as clams.

Saturday night, we headed into downtown Chiang Rai to their Saturday Night Market. We LOVED this market. THIS is how a night market should be. There were tons of food stands and treats we’d never seen before. And there was live music happening in a town square with dancing. Of course Mara and I joined in the circle dance and got lots of smiles from the locals as we joined them.

Sunday was a big day, so after loading up at the breakfast buffet at the Le Meridian, it was off for our border run.

We began by driving the 1:30 from Chiang Rai to Mae Sai, Thailand. Then we left Thailand, walked across a bridge to Myanmar, did a bit of window shopping and headed back to Thailand.

From there, it was a short 30 minute drive to the Golden Triangle area. After checking into our hotel, we headed to the river and took our boat trip over to Don Sao island, Laos. 2 new countries in 1 day. SCORE!!

After the Laos trip, we wandered around the Golden Triangle area for a bit, ate dinner then off to bed after a long, long day.

The next morning we ate breakfast, then drove the 5 hours back to Chiang Mai. We stopped a few times for some pictures, lunch and took a brief spin thru the White Temple again.

Then after 3 days of traveling around, we were safely back home and were good for another 59 days in Thailand before we needed to do border run #2.